Inspiration Post - Retro Robot Records!!

Hey everyone!! Hope all of you are having a fantastic summer so far. July is already ending which means it's time for our "Inspiration Post!" My blog's chance to choose a theme and 5 accompanying visuals that really jump-start my imagination. It's a great way to get a look into my head as well as encourage your own creative adventures. A nod to BakerBot from my previous post, I chose "Retro Robot Records!!"

Before the age of machines cranking out Dubstep music, robots held profitable careers in OTHER areas of the music industry. Such as posing for album covers for all sorts of artists all over the world. Yes, some of our technologically advanced friends are a bit vain. Why not make a career out of it?? Scroll down to check out the 12 inch by 12 inch canvas that is the vinyl record sleeve possessing tons of robots setting their phasers to "inspire" just for you!!

The Alan Parsons Project - I Robot Album 

image via http://vinyleye.com.au/

Let's start off with the I Robot Album by the Alan Parsons Project. Leave it up to a prog rock band to feature an out of this world cover concept. The sleeve depicts the colorful complicated inner-workings of a gargantuan steel giant. True to it's form, the actual album is set in an age where machines rule over man. I love the bizarre scifi elements such as the transportation tubes. The mix of illustration and nearly photographic artwork gives us a bleak look at our possible future. All hail the robot overlords!

Munich Machine - Get on the Funk Train

image via WaxPoetics site

A robot record in it's purest form, the Munich Machine album lets it's artwork do all the talking. The sleeve features two machines shooting lasers out of their eyes as they rocket into the sky for one funky night! I'm under the impression the robot on the left is a female and the one on the right is her male dance partner. The design of the robots is fantastic. The knobby joints, bright colors and clear accents to display circuitry are phenomenal. Both possess rocket launchers in their bell bottom shaped boots. The yellow robot even has a set of wheels attached to it's soles!!

Bionic Boogie

image via http://www.flickr.com/photos/christianmontone/

Incredibly provocative this fem-bot models for the "BionicBoogie" album cover. If you haven't guessed yet by the satin curtains and groovy font, this is a disco album. And, I admit, she's less of a fem-bot and more of a model. Who seems to be modeling some kind of futuristic listening device complete with headphones and volume control?! Steam rises out of robotic fashionista as the gauge's needle tips dangerously towards the edge. This album cover was TOO bizarre to pass up for the list.

Music Machine - Ktel 

image via Neato Coolville blog

The POSTER CHILD of retro robots stars on this album titled, "Music Machine," by K-Tel. And just as advertised on the front, it even had it's own commercial. Robbie the Robot is the celebrity robot from television series "Lost in Space." The photograph of Robbie rocking out in a deserted field behind a ridiculous stereo system is classic. All the design elements come together in a cheesy way for a winning combo!! The sleeve looks like more of an ad than actual artwork, cramming tons of text as well as bubbles featuring some of the artist you can listen to on this record. I wouldn't have it any other way!

DANCE, DANCE, DANCE - Matthew Laznicka Illustration

Woah check out those robots breaking it down!! I was surprised to find while on my search for retro records that this was not ACTUALLY a record. Nope. Upon closer examination, it's a print by Matthew Laznicka, made to look like a record. With the distressed look and old school fonts I have to admit even I was intially fooled. The art was too fun not to add to this month's post. The color scheme is great, the robots are dynamically illustrated as they dance they dance until the sun comes up!!
 

image via "Junk Shop Juke Box" blog

If you are unfamiliar with the any of the music on the record's from today's post I urge you check them out!! They're all a lot of fun and a refreshing change up from any artists of today. Oh!! And don't forget I keep extra bonus pieces for each "Inspiration Post" on my Pinterest board I dedicated to "Inspiration."  Follow http://pinterest.com/nerdycupcakes/inspirations/ for sneak peak at what's coming for next month's post.  Have a great weekend everyone!!

Illustration Friday - BakerBot Version 2.0

Good morning everyone!! Just wanted to squeeze in my "Illustration Friday," post before the deadline hit!! This week I was pretty excited to create a piece since the topic was "Robots." I love drawing robots. I have drawn so many different kinds during the span of this blog. A concept I frequently play with is a BakerBot:

This latest model of the BakerBot has no time to for fun at the moment. He has to delivery a freshly baked blueberry muffin to a VERY hungry customer!! Maybe in the future we will have bakeries run all by "BakerBots." I can dream!!

To improve on my skills I challenged myself to work on a more dynamic pose for this character. I hope everyone has a super weekend!! 

Illustration Friday - S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D. band from the "Future"

Hey everyone!! Just wanted to update the blog with my "Illustration Friday" entry. This week's theme was the word, "future." It took me no time to come up with an illustration, I decided to create a cartoon of an awesome band I saw live back in April, called "S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D."

"S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D." stands for "Sociopathic Time Altering Robot Warrior Of Organic Design," and is actually a band made up of Vitruvian Androids from the futuristic year 2276 AD. They were sent back into time, our time, present time, just before their own planet was destroyed (by us, the human race). Their mission?? Alter the timeline and control the human race saving their planet from it's imminent destruction.

My illustration is of lead singer, G7ANGEL591S (aka Gabriel Starwood) standing over planet earth. If you haven't heard them before, their entire album is up online for FREE to download right now at http://starwood.bandcamp.com/ Also be sure to check out their Facebook http://www.facebook.com/StarwoodBand and Twitter http://twitter.com/S_T_A_R_W_O_O_D. Hope everyone has a great week!!

Mika Doodle Contest 2013 - Part II

Hello everybody! Just wanted to update the blog with the continuation of my "Mika Doodle Contest" entry from earlier this year. If you missed my previous post about the competition, let me catch you up. The contest was open to all illustrators, artists and anyone else who wanted to doodle select tracks off the album, "The Origin of Love," that were posted on the MIKA Facebook fan page every week. I made it my mission to submit an entry for EVERY one of the songs posted. This post contains the other half of my entries below!!

Song 6: Popular

This track was based off the original tune "Popular," from the musical Wicked. I love the production Wicked and this song sang by Galinda to Elphaba. MIKA's version has a similar melody but the message was less about BECOMING popular and more a stab at the "popular" kids that put down the other kids at school. I resisted the urge to create something girly and cute and based my drawing on the the line that said, "Dunk me in the toilets now it's you that cleans them." Your typical queen bee trades in her tiara for a little janitor's bucket printed with the song title and filled with cleaning solution, a sponge and a toilet brush. 

Song 7: Love You When I'm Drunk

Next was a song called, "Love You When I'm Drunk." My doodle depicts the chorus, which is exactly the same as the title of the track. I drew a bottle of whiskey with the lyrics written on the label and a half empty shot glass with heart-shaped ice cubes beside it. The entire drawing is surrounded by little broken hearts because as happy as the melody sounds the theme is pretty depressing. The text was based off of 3 different fonts from my computer. 

Song 8: Stardust

Next up was a track called, "Stardust." My original concept was going to be a silhouette of the singer made of little tiny stars taken as a Polaroid picture. After a few sketches, I was convinced it looked much better as another cartoon Mika instead. As for the colors, I was going for galaxy; purple, dark blues and dark pinks. Once I was done, I realized it looked A LOT like Coraline and her star-covered pajamas. Oops!! I still think it came out pretty good though.

Song 9: Emily

I loved the style of the video which starred "Fanny Ardent," dressed in red playing the part of "Emily," that went along with this song. The video's artistic interpretation of the song was spot on but didn't want to translate that too literally into my piece. "Emily" seemed to me from the song, to be a woman under an identity crisis. I wanted to play with the idea of changing identity by illustrating a mannequin head complete with wig and hat labeled "Emily." The curly short haircut and bright red color of the hat tie in with the look of the music video. Elegant yet still fun this is a stand alone piece and an illustration I'm really proud of!

Song 10: Make You Happy

When I heard this song for the competition I immediately thought . . . robot! And that's not just because I love robots and think about them 56% of the time I had a valid reason. The line, "all I want to do is make you happy," is constantly repeated throughout the song in mechanical sounding-auto tuned voice. Much like a robot. But this isn't just any robot, this is a MIKABOT. He comes equipped with a bolted-on suspenders, a fancy top hat and a mop of curly locks underneath it. Beep boop beep!

Song 11: Underwater

The competition wrapped up with a song called, "Underwater." I thought about what could be underwater and came up with an oyster. The oyster is open to reveal a precious pearl, shaped like a heart to symbolize love. I hand-lettered the lyrics, "put your lips on me and I can live underwater," above the piece and added some bubbles to surround the piece.

I love challenging myself artistically by entering contests and competitions. And it was fun to see everyone's different interpretations of the songs off the album. Not only that I made some new artist friends along the way!! Hope everyone has a good week!! 

Inspiration Post: Delectable Donuts!!

Hey everyone!! April is winding down to an end and it was one crazy month!! I'll admit, I really slacked on posting but I couldn't forget the monthly "Inspiration Post!" Once a month I post a set of 5 visuals that inspire me in hopes to inspire you!! Even if you aren't the next Picasso I hope this set makes your Spring day a little bit sweeter! This month's theme is everyone's favorite office food, "Delectable Donuts!"

If you haven't gathered this yet, I freaking love food. Especially sugar. So I love donuts. I've featured them in my artwork before on Thank You cards, celebrated National Donut Day last year and on a set of Valentine's cards I created. Frosted, covered with sprinkles, filled with frosting or glazed they're the sweetest way to start your day! Grab a cup of coffee, kick back and scroll through our post!!

Alternative Portfolio - Jerry Bennett Photography

This photograph filed under "Alternative" by Jerry Bennett, is of a pink-haired Miss with six donuts balancing top of her head dated 2007. Her hair is crazy, her jewelry is giant and the pink and purple hues are subtle and harmonious. Not many people can pull off model + donuts + alternative style but this shot proves the craziest ideas can turn out the most eye-catching portraits.

Donutella and her Friends - TokiDoki by Simone Legno

Meet "Donutella" and her group of equally sweet friends! Drawn with thick dark outlines, vibrant colors and in a clean vector-art style Simon Legno's "TokiDoki" line is something I always indulge in! More than just an icon in the the delectable world of Donuts, Donutella includes her own backstory of traveling the milky way and stumbling upon a plantery home for herself and species. I couldn't resist including her in my post!! Simone's work can be found on all sorts of merchandise in the form of bags, stationary, plushes and heaps more available at a variety of stores!

"Pandora's Box?" - Eric Joyner

I love this piece. In fact, I love all of Eric Joyner's Robot & Donuts pieces. The robots open "Pandora's Box" releasing the unstoppable evil of sprinkle-covered frosted DONUTS upon their universe. Joyner draws inspiration for his art from his passion for old tin toys, specifically robots exported from Japan, and our universal love of donuts. I really respect someone who has a seemingly strange vision and follows through with it successfully. Marvel at his entire gallery at http://ericjoyner.com/.

Donut Monster Sneakers - BobsMade

Next is a custom pair of kick's covered in donuts and monsters!! BobsMade which was founded in 2007 by an art student who dropped out of school to do things her own way, specializes in custom pieces from sneakers, to heels, to phone cases, nearly ANYTHING with a decent amount of surface area! Vibrant color, thick outlines and doodle-like qualities make the BobsMade brand a style I dig. The cartoony donuts are really fun and the monsters all look friendly and silly.

 

Smoke Rings illustration by Mark Ward

And last but not least, the catalyst of it all, this graphic illustration inspired me to think about those "Delectable Donuts" differently. I originally saw this on Pinterest with no information on it's creator. But with a little investigative work I found out it was created by Mark Ward, a Graphic Artist & Art Director creating distinct works of art in London, England. The concept is extremely clever, slightly grimy and intensely magnetizing. Bravo Mr. Ward!

 Image via donut-porn.tumblr.com/

That's it for this week I hope this "Inspiration Post" got you inspired (or at the very least super hungry). If your still hungry for more delectable donuts be sure to check out the Pinterest board I have dedicated to "Inspiration" sprinkled with extras that didn't make this month's cut! Head over to http://pinterest.com/nerdycupcakes/inspirations/ to check it out!! Have a great week everyone!!

Sidewalk Chalk Art Festival!

One fun event my town has from time to time is a Sidewalk Chalk competition. Artists of all ages can pay a small fee to reserve one (or more) blocks of sidewalk and create a masterpiece! Pieces are then judged and prizes given to winner's in each age group.

I decided to participate this year. My drawing was a combination of two things that I love; baking and robots!

My little baker robot was busy at work making lots of yummy frosted cupcakes in all sorts of colors and tasty sprinkled donuts. MMMMM!

I didn't win any prizes but I still had a blast!! It was great checking out other people's pieces!! Almost enchanting strolling around the environment being surrounded by vivid works of art on every step you make.

And honestly, I don't think I did TOO bad for a girl who spends majority of her time at a computer all day! I'm really excited to participate next year. I even told a few of my friends about it. Who knows, maybe I will win!

Robots and Crystal Castles

So far I accomplished a lot today. I got tickets to see Crystal Castles this summer at the Electric Factory. I love the Electric Factory, it's such a great venue. I have been a fan of Crystal Castles since they first started getting their name tossed around in blogs around 2005. I found them through a great site called SitelPop UK and now look at that, they are playing right here in Philly!!

As soon as I got home I spent a lot of time on my freelance job at the East Hanover Studio. I've made great progress and will wrap my project up soon.

I also wanted to let everyone know that EveryoneLovesRobots, one of my most adored client's released a new Youtube video that has a shout out to me in it!! Be sure to check that out and subscribe by clicking here!

One last thing is in my "free" time I am going to try to complete a three print series of some robots. I completely the first print eons ago and neglected to post it here. But here it is:

I started a pink girl robot as well and will probably use them as covers for my journals in my Etsy shop or just sell the prints together.

Hope everyone has a great day today, will post again soon!